Portable multi-source power inverter with pass through device

ABSTRACT

A portable power inverter/converter having a pass through device for simultaneously sourcing A.C. and multiple voltage D.C. power consuming devices through a single D.C. power source connection. Inverter and converter circuitry is provided to invert and convert D.C. voltage to an A.C. voltage source and a lower DC voltage. A.C. electrical outlets are provided to facilitate a connection to an external A.C. power-consuming device and a DC outlet to a lower volt DC power-consuming device. The pass through device provides an independent and simultaneous connection to an additional D.C. outlet that would otherwise be eliminated when occupied by the inverter thus allowing simultaneous connection and operation of both A.C. and multi source D.C power consuming devices through a single external D.C. power outlet of a single D.C. power source.

The present invention is a Continuation-In-Part application of U.S. Ser.No. 10/795,217 filed on Mar. 9, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,272,008 and ishereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention is related to a power inverting device and moreparticularly to a portable power inverting device having a pass throughdevice for connection and operation of both A.C. and D.C. powerconsuming devices to a single outlet of a single power source.

2. Background of the Related Art

Portable power inverter devices are well known in the art. These devicesoften provide a source of A.C. electrical power to run A.C. devices whenin an environment where only a D.C. voltage source is available such asin an automobile. Power inverters provide the ability to power A.C.consuming devices when only such D.C. power sources are available.Examples of such power inverters are disclosed in the following U.S.patents, each of which are herein incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat.Nos. 6,411,514; 5,742,478; and 5,170,336. However, while these and otherprior art inverters are connected to the D.C. power source, thatconnection/D.C. source is no longer useable while the inverter isconnected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a portable power inverter having ahousing enclosing power inverting circuitry. An electrical connectorconnects the housing to an external D.C. voltage source. The circuitassembly supported within said housing is electrically coupled to theexternal D.C. power source. The circuit assembly includes invertercircuit equipped with electrical components for inverting the suppliedD.C. voltage to an A.C. voltage source. A.C. electrical outlets areprovided to facilitate a connection to an external A.C. power consumingdevice. A pass through device provides an independent and simultaneousconnection to an additional D.C. outlet to allow connection of anexternal D.C. power consuming device. The pass through device allowsconnection of D.C. consuming devices that would otherwise be connecteddirectly to the external D.C. power source while the inverter is soconnected thus allowing connection and operation of both A.C. and D.Cpower consuming devices through a single external D.C. power outlet of asingle D.C. power source.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention,and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and theinvention itself will be better understood by reference to the followingdescription of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the Power Inverter according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom side view of the Power Inverter of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front side view of the Power Inverter of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a back side view of the Power Inverter of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a left side view of the Power Inverter of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a right side view of the Power Inverter of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a top side view of the Power Inverter according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 a is an exploded view of the power inverter according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 b is an isolated view showing a rear side portion of the printedcircuit board.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the Power Inverter according to an alternateembodiment.

FIG. 10 is a top perspective view of the Power Inverter of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a top side view of the Power Inverter of FIG. 9.

FIG. 12 is a bottom view of the Power Inverter of FIG. 9.

FIG. 13A is a top view of the printed circuit board of the PowerInverter of FIG. 9.

FIG. 13B is a schematic representing the circuitry of the power inverterof FIG. 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

FIG. 1. depicts a persective view of the power inverter according to thepresent invention. FIGS. 2-7 depict the six side views of the inverterof FIG. 1. A housing 11 made of aluminum or other suitable hard materialencloses much of the working components of the inverter 1 with a pair ofend plates 3,13 form to enclose the housing. As shown in FIG. 1, the endplate 3 has multiple outlets; two A.C. outlets 5 a, 5 b, a D.C. outlet 7and a power switch 9. The D.C. outlet represents a pass-through outletto maintain an available D.C. power source and will be discussed infurther detail below.

FIG. 8 a depicts an exploded view of the inverter of FIG. 1 exposing theessential working components. It is first to be understood, that powerinverters for converting a 12 volt power source to an available 110 voltA.C. source is old and well known in the art. Conventionally, thesecomponents are mounted on a printed circuit board such as shown in FIG.8 a. The printed circuit board has the essential components to convert a12-volt power source for running an A.C. current consuming device. Suchoff the shelf circuitry is readily available to one of ordinary skill inthe art. Thus no further details regarding the component circuitry ordetails regarding power inverting in general need to be discussed infurther detail. Any power inverting circuitry for inverting 12 volts toA.C. voltage to run an A.C. consuming device may be employed. It is alsounderstood the inverter circuitry can be designed for various powerratings over a range of watts. For example, a small 100 watt powerinverter may be desirable for extreme portability to power low powerconsuming A.C. devices such as a clock or radio. The wattage rating maybe increased to exceed 1000 watts depending on the intended applicationfor the inverter. Such arrangements are well known in the art and arereadily available. The present invention is primarily directed to thearrangement of power inverter components employing a pass through deviceto maintain the availability of the 12-volt source which powers theinverter. Thus the remaining discussion will be directed to such anarrangement.

As previously mentioned, the present invention includes two A.C. outlets5 a, 5 b mounted on the end plate 3. The outlets 5 a, 5 b are intendedto power two different A.C. consuming devices by inverting a 12 volt (orother low voltage D.C. source) to A.C. Such a D.C. voltage source isoften found in automobiles. For such use, the present invention includesa male plug type cigarette electrical connector 17 for insertion into afemale cigarette outlet commonly found in automobiles as well as other12-volt power sources. Power leads (positive and ground) 19 extend fromthe male plug 17 through a rear end plate 21 to connect the D.C. voltagesource to the printed circuit board 15. The power leads may first passthrough a fuse box 23 prior to connecting to printed circuit board 15 asis conventionally known in the art.

The power leads 19 include a positive lead 19 a and ground lead 19 bwhich are connected/soldered to corresponding points on the printedcircuit board 15. Preferably the leads 19 a, 19 b are connected viaremovable connectors 25 a, 25 b which extend through the printed circuitboard and are soldered to corresponding positive lines 27/28 at twopoints 27 a, 27 b and 28 a, 28 b to ensure a secure connection to thecircuit board. Thus the leads 19 bring power from an external D.C.voltage source to the inverter circuitry. The A.C. outlets 5 a, 5 b areconnected to corresponding points on the printed circuit board as isconventional in the art and generally depicted in FIG. 8 a. As theconnection and supply of A.C. current to A.C. outlets in an inverter iswell within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art, nofurther elaboration is necessary.

As previously discussed, it is desirable to make available a D.C.receptacle outlet to maintain a D.C. power source otherwise occupied bymale plug 17. Thus the inverter of the present invention includes a passthrough device to maintain the availability of a D.C. outlet while theinverter is connected to the external D.C. power source. The presentinvention includes a female cigarette plug type outlet 7 disposed on endplate 3 adjacent A.C. outlets 5 a, 5 b. The D.C. outlet 7 is comprisedof a common female receptacle as commonly employed as cigarette lightersin vehicles. The female outlet 7 is correspondingly dimensioned toaccommodate the male plug 17 connecter and thus mirrors the femalesocket of the external D.C. voltage source to which the male plug 17 isnormally connected.

To power the D.C. female outlet 7, a positive lead 39 a is connectedthrough the printed circuit board and connected to positive line 27 atpoint 27 c as shown in FIGS. 8A & 8B. Similarly ground line 39 b extendsfrom the female outlet 7 through the printed circuit board 15 and isconnected to ground line 28 at point 28 c. Thus the female outlet 7draws current directly from external D.C. power source in parallel tothe inverter circuitry. Such an arrangement facilitates simultaneous useof the A.C. outlets and the D.C. outlet to the extent the load is notexcessive relative to the rating of the external D.C. voltage source towhich the inverter is connected. Should the load exceed a predeterminedvalue, the fuse 23 would open the circuit isolating the invertercircuitry and female D.C. outlet 7 from the power source.

Thus the present invention provides a compact portable arrangement forinverting a D.C. voltage source to power an A.C. consuming device andincorporate a pass through device to simultaneously maintain theavailability of a D.C. power source. The inverter unit effectivelyprovides outlets to run both A.C. power consuming devices as well asD.C. power consuming devices simultaneously without having to make orbreak any connection between the inverter and original external D.C.power source.

To further enhance the performance of the inverter circuitry, each endplate are provided with ventilation holes to allow air to pass throughthe housing 11 and cool the electrical components during use. A fan 51may also be employed to positively force air through the housing and maybe connected to the inverter assembly as is commonly known in the art.

FIGS. 9-13 represent an alternate embodiment of the present invention.The power invert of FIG. 9 is nearly identical to the power invertershown and described in FIGS. 1-8 including all of its functionalfeatures. The power inverter includes internal circuitry to convert DC12 volt source to alternative current (AC) and provides two AC outlets105 a 105 b as well as a DC Power Source pass through device 107 just asin the previous embodiment. A fan 151 is also included disposed adjacentthe bottom side of the device 111 as well as ventilation holes 131 tofacilitate circulation of cooling air to enhance heat dissipation fromthe device. The unit 111 includes a compact portable hand holdablehousing 111 and includes a cigarette lighter style male connector 117 toplug into a corresponding female socket just as in the previousembodiment. A power switch 109 is also included, with a status indicatorLED light 109 a. The switch 109 is selectively positioned between an onan off position to selectively control power delivered to the ACoutlets. These features have already been described in the previousembodiment and need not be elaborated further. All of the features shownand described in the previous embodiment of FIG. 2 1-8 are included inthe present embodiment shown in FIGS. 9-13.

The present embodiment of FIGS. 9-13 includes at least two additionalfeatures. On the one hand the unit incorporates a map light to provideillumination adjacent the compact inverter device 111. The presentinvention is adapted to be simply plugged into and supported by anin-vehicle-dash DC 12 socket. The use of the present invention in such avehicle dash is often in low light settings such as during night timedriving. The map light affords the ability to provide a passenger theability to illuminate an area that does not distract a driver such asoverhead cabin lighting when the inverter is disposed in the dash 12volt outlet. Integration of a map light into the hand held inverterdevice provides illumination adjacent the device to facilitate making aconnection between the inverter and power consuming device in low lightsettings. The light 161 includes a clear/translucent spring biasedswitch plate. The switch plate 161 is simply depressed between an on andoff position. Depressing the switch 161 overrides a small spring andcatches on a retaining device in a lowered position and makes contact toclose the circuit to an underlining light, preferably and LED. The cleartranslucent nature of the switch plate 161 allows the light to emanatefrom the switch plate 161 and provide illumination adjacent the frontside of the inverter 111. When the switch 161 is subsequently depressed,the circuit opens and the switch plate 161 returns to its uprightmost/off position. Such lights, in and of them selves, are readilyavailable in the market and well understood to those of ordinary skillin the art. The Power inverter housing 111 is simply molded toaccommodate such a switched light 161 to facilitate easy assembly intothe housing 111. The electrical connection between the light/switch 161and internal circuitry will be easily recognized to one of ordinaryskill in the art and is further shown in the schematic representation ofthe electronic circuitry in FIG. 13B.

The inverter of the present invention also includes an additional outlet171 for powering additional DC devices of lower voltage. An additionalDC outlet (in additional to the 12V DC pass through device) is alsoinclude to power lower level voltage drawing devices such as small handheld video games. Preferably a USP port connection 171 (such as thatshown in FIG. 9) is included and is shown in FIG. 9. This USB connection171 provides the ability for external devices to connect to the powerinverter/converter to additional supply lower voltage DC power to eitherrun such devices or recharge batteries in these hand held devices. Thusbecause such devices usually require lower voltages (of the order of 5volts) a converter is also included in the circuitry to convert 12 voltsto 5 volts and to maintain the voltage between 4.75-5.25 volts. Thus thepower inverter/converter of the present invention includes not only aDC/AC inverter, but a 12 volt DC pass through outlet and convertingcircuitry to additionally provide lower voltage DC power through a USPport. The combination of a power inverter to provide a Source of ACpower through conventional AC outlets with a pass through device tomaintain the ability to connect to the 12 Volt source which powers theinverter as well as a converter to additionally provide a lower voltagesource of DC power is void in the prior art.

While this invention has been described as having an exemplary design,the present invention may be further modified within the spirit andscope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended tocover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using itsgeneral principles. Further, this application is intended to cover suchdepartures from the present disclosure as come within known or customarypractice in the art to which this invention pertains. For example, onlya portion of the printed lines are depicted in FIG. 8B sufficient todemonstrate the connection of lead lines 19 to the circuit as well asthe connection of the D.C. receptacle to appropriate lines on the board.Other printed circuitry arrangements may be employed to facilitate aparallel connection between the D.C. outlet and inverting circuitry.

1. A multi source power converter device comprising: a housing; a firstelectrical connector for connecting said multi source power converterdevice to a first external D.C. voltage source; a circuit assemblysupported within said housing and electrically coupled to said firstelectrical connector to facilitate a connection to said first externalD.C. voltage source, said circuit assembly comprising an invertercircuit equipped with electrical components for inverting said firstexternal D.C. voltage source to an A.C. voltage source and an additionalconverter circuitry to convert said first external DC voltage source toa second lower voltage DC power source; an A.C. electrical outletconnected to said housing provided to facilitate a connection to anexternal A.C. power consuming device, said A.C. electrical outlet beingpowered by said A.C. voltage source when said first electrical connectoris connected to said external D.C. voltage source; a DC electricaloutlet connected to facilitate a connection to an external DC powerconsuming device, said DC electrical outlet being connected to andpowered by said second lower voltage DC power source from said convertercircuitry; and a pass through device having a pass through D.C.electrical outlet to facilitate a connection to and providing said firstexternal D.C. voltage source to an external D.C. power consuming devicewhen said first electrical connector is connected to said external D.C.voltage source.
 2. The device according to claim 1 wherein said firstexternal DC voltage source is a 12 volt DC power source and said secondlower voltage DC power source is a 5 volt power source, said invertercircuit inverting said 12 volt DC power source to an alternating currentpower source and said converting circuitry converting said 12 volt DCpower source to said 5 volt power source.
 3. The device according toclaim 2, wherein said first electrical connector is a male plugconnector adapted to mate with a female socket of said external D.C.voltage source, said D.C. electrical outlet is a female socketcorrespondingly dimensioned to accommodate said male plug connectorthereby mirroring said female socket of said external D.C. voltagesource.
 4. The device according to claim 2, wherein said firstelectrical connector is a male cigarette-type 12 volt plug connectoradapted to mate with a female cigarette-type 12 volt socket of saidexternal D.C. voltage source, said D.C. electrical outlet is a femalecigarette-type 12 volt socket connector thereby mirroring said femalecigarette-type 12 volt socket of said external D.C. voltage source. 5.The device according to claim 2, wherein said A.C. electrical outletincludes a plurality of A.C. electrical outlets.
 6. The device accordingto claim 2, wherein said D.C. electrical outlet and said invertercircuitry are connected to said first electrical connector in parallel.7. The device according to claim 6, wherein said circuit assemblyincludes a printed circuit board, said first electrical connector beingelectrically coupled to said printed circuit board and therebyestablishing a connection from a positive and a ground line of saidfirst external D.C. voltage source to corresponding leads of saidprinted circuit board, said corresponding leads of said printed circuitboard each being electrically connected to each of said pass throughD.C. electrical outlet and said inverting and converting circuitriesthereby simultaneously providing power to each of said pass through D.C.electrical outlet, said A.C. electrical outlet, and said DC electricaloutlet connected to said second lower DC power source.
 8. The deviceaccording to claim 1, further comprising a compact hand holdablehousing, said first electrical connector is a male plug connectoradapted to mate with a female socket of said first external D.C. voltagesource, wherein said housing and said entire multi source powerconverter device is supported solely by said male plug when mated withsaid female socket.
 9. The device according to claim 8, furthercomprising an intake fan mounted to a bottom surface of said housing,said housing including a plurality of ventilation holes, said coolingfan and said ventilation holes allowing cooling air to enter andcirculate within said housing thereby enhancing heat dissipation fromthe device.
 10. The device according to claim 1, further comprising amap light disposed on an outer surface of said housing to provideillumination of an area adjacent said device.
 11. The device accordingto claim 4, further comprising a map light disposed on an outer surfaceof said housing to provide illumination of an area adjacent said device.12. The device according to claim 7, further comprising a map lightdisposed on an outer surface of said housing to provide illumination ofan area adjacent said device.
 13. The device according to claim 8,further comprising a map light disposed on an outer surface of saidhousing to provide illumination of an area adjacent said device.